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Capgemini Government Solutions LLC, a member of the Capgemini Group, one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, today announced it has been awarded a seven-year, $100 million (c. €73 million) blanket purchase agreement by the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM) in support of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) support services for enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations agency-wide.The USDA is seeking to modernize aging departmental and agency program application systems through a comprehensive Application Transformation and Modernization (ATM) program. Capgemini will provide IV&V services in support of ATM initiatives including Modernize and Innovate the Delivery of Agricultural Systems (MIDAS); the Financial Management Modernization Initiative (FMMI); the Budget and Performance Management System (BPMS); and Web Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM).

The first intended use of the ATM IV&V support contract is by the Farm Service Agency (FSA), which aims to transform farm program benefit delivery through MIDAS. The process for providing benefits to farmers will be streamlined by replacing legacy systems with a public-facing, web-based system that integrates customer self-service, farm program management, financial management and other business processes within a framework that is compliant with federal regulations.

“The USDA plays a pivotal role in keeping Americans safe and healthy, and this transformation will be instrumental in helping the agency carry out its mission,” said Joe Moye, chief executive officer, Capgemini Government Solutions LLC. “Capgemini’s public sector industry experience, matched with its consulting and technology capabilities to support enterprise resource planning, will help enable the USDA to quickly modernize and execute the USDA’s implementations while saving costs.”

These initiatives will be implemented using SAP AG’s Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing (SAP), which the USDA has mandated for ERP implementations. Capgemini will collaborate with 22 subcontractors to complete the project.

About Capgemini

Capgemini, one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, enables its clients to transform and perform through technologies. Capgemini provides its clients with insights and capabilities that boost their freedom to achieve superior results through a unique way of working, the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM. The Group relies on its global delivery model called Rightshore®, which aims to get the right balance of the best talent from multiple locations, working as one team to create and deliver the optimum solution for clients. Present in more than 30 countries, Capgemini reported 2009 global revenues of EUR 8.4 billion (approximately USD $11.6 billion) and employs 95,000 people worldwide. More information is available at www.capgemini.com.

About Capgemini Government Solutions

Capgemini Government Solutions is committed to working with government clients to support them in their strategic, tactical and transformation initiatives. Capgemini helps organizations create sustainable value by employing innovative business process improvement strategies and applied solutions that utilize a unique method of engagement: the Collaborative Business Experience (CBE). By providing public and private sector experience, best practices, and proven tools and methodologies tailored for the U.S. government’s unique requirements, we help clients build knowledge and capabilities as we work together to drive transformation agendas. With a dedicated core team of professionals in Herndon, VA, Capgemini Government Solutions was formed in 2002 as an independent operating division of Capgemini to offer U.S. Government agencies deep transformation, consulting, and IT expertise. More information is available at www.capgemini-gs.com.

Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini

1 Independent Verification & Validation services consist of entrusting verification and validation tasks to an entity independent from the development team. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, verification and validation processes for projects such as the USDA ATM initiatives can be used to determine whether (1) the products of a given activity conform to the requirements of that activity and (2) the software satisfies its intended use and user needs. This determination may include analyzing, evaluating, reviewing, inspecting, assessing, and testing software products and processes. The verification and validation processes should assess the software in the context of the system, including the operational environment, hardware, interfacing software, operators, and users.

Source: http://www.capgemini.com/news-and-events/news/capgemini-awarded-sevenyear-blanket-purchase-agreement-with-us-department-of-agriculture

Cloud Computing is the way ahead for governments who want to save money on ICT spend, according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

“In terms of egovernment and Cloud and spend and the like, if you take a look at most IT budgets, probably 70%, close to it anyway, gets spent on labour,” said Ballmer during a visit to the London School of Economics. “So if you really want to help anybody save money on IT, you have to say ‘how do I help people save money on labour?’

“If you take a look at modern data centres, they have a lot fewer people in them than today’s data centres do. So I think the fundamental advance that will help – whether it’s the UK government or other institutions – save money is the automation of tasks today that require a lot of labour.”

With the Coalition government currently looking to ICT providers to sign up to a new deal (at lower cost), Ballmer conceded that reducing prices was an option on the table as well. “Sure, we always have a chance to cut our price,” he said, but added: “We tend to be the lower cost participant on most bids; we are not the most expensive guy. So we have been a force for price reduction.

“But that sort of misses the big picture. The big picture is: software helps automate things that people do and software helps reduce the amount of hardware it requires, because both of those things are bigger in the food chain of cost. And moving to Cloud service is a way to kind of bundle a couple of those themes up.”

All roads lead to Cloud Computing within Microsoft at present. “The Cloud to me reflects the transformation that’s going on in the computing world from things which are islands, from things which are either in a corporate data set or in the Internet to things that are in both,” explained Ballmer.

“To some degree when people talk about the Cloud they will talk about all the money it could save to enterprise people spending money on IT. When I talk about the Cloud we will talk about that but we will talk about how it changes the way you write every programme that gets written; we will talk about the way it changes the way you design and build every computing device on the planet. We will talk about the new kinds of applications that you couldn’t have built in a world without the Cloud. We might think we have kind of gone full circle on that; we have only scratched the surface.”

But there are new burdens as well as opportunities to come from the Cloud, he warned. “The Cloud will certainly also bring with it a new set of responsibilities in terms of security, privacy and data availability, “ he noted. “As soon as you start pooling computing and data in new and interesting ways, really defining and really being careful about weighing up who owns what data and how it is controlled and used is a fundamental responsibility of every participant in that chain.”

Source: http://www.publictechnology.net/sector/central-gov/clouds-cut-government-ict-spend-says-microsoft-ceo-0

Barclays Plc, Britain’s third-biggest bank, plans to take a stake valued at as much as $120 million in an Indian company providing back-office services that is backed by Blackstone Group LP, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Barclays will award contracts for at least five years to Intelenet Global Services Ltd. instead of paying cash for the stake, the person said, declining to be identified because the transaction hasn’t been made public.

Aviva Plc, Britain’s biggest insurer, and U.K. banks have outsourced some services to India to reduce costs. A stake in Intelenet will help Barclays ensure it gets the services it requires from the company based in Mumbai.

Intelenet will announce details of a “strategic announcement,” today, according to an invitation for a press conference sent by the company yesterday. Intelenet “as a policy does not comment on market speculation,” said Naini Choudhury, a spokeswoman for the company.

The Blackstone Group “as a policy, does not comment on market speculation,” the firm said in an e-mail response. “We do not comment on market speculation,” said Perry Jones, a spokesman for Barclay’s Plc.

Intelenet is valued at $500 million to $600 million, according to the person

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-06/barclays-said-to-take-20-stake-in-blackstone-backed-intelenet.html

Metro Bank is outsourcing its entire IT infrastructure to integrator niu Solutions, in a move that is unique to the UK market.

Craig Donaldson, CEO of Metro Bank, said: "We were looking to re-create the US service model [of banking]. We wanted a provider who could do everything, so our people can focus on the customers."

Niu Solutions manages Metro Bank's WAN and LANs. All IT operations are run from the datacentre, meaning all are virtualised.

"Terminals and security are the only services which operate in-store," said Gary Woodward, chief executive of niu Solutions.

Donaldson added that other organisations attempted to string together multi-vendor solutions during the tendering process. "But their flaws were obvious to us," he concluded.

The niu Solutions project is unique in the UK and further distinguishes itself by its commercial model. The bank pays only a cost price for all hardware up front, but adds an incremental cost per user as the bank grows; in effect a pay-as-you-go service.

"We wanted to share the money if it's a success, but limit our risk in case of failure," said Donaldson.

The project has not been without its problems.

"Application integration was the biggest challenge," said Woodward. "No one had ever used our software as a start-up before, and we quickly went from integrating four to 24 applications."

Woodward explained that clear communication and daily meetings were the solution.

"The system works well now," he said.

Niu has been created from the acquisition and integration of four IT and telecoms companies, so although new, it has ongoing business across its constituent parts. However, Metro Bank is the first customer project to employ all four divisions.

Niu Solutions is the result of a merger which took place in 2008. The companies involved were Telinet, which offers on-site telephony; EVD, offering on-site IT; Passporte – off-site hosted IT specialists; and Ipitomi, providing off-site IP telephony.

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2271067/metro-bank-outsources#ixzz11f424eWP

Tory ministers came under more pressure to ensure maximum availability of government and local government data, including IT contracts, during a a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference in Birmingham.

Liam Maxwell, a research fellow of the Centre for Policy Studies, told delegates that greater transparency was needed to induce behavioural change among civil servants and local government officers, and that increased transparency would also help to bring about this change.

All data, including contract details, should be put online, he said. The process would fuel the drive to obtain "better for less".

Centre director Jill Kirby, who chaired the meeting, said: "We must put more government and local government data online to drive down costs."

Microsoft head of government affairs Paul Morris urged for greater information exchange to improve government performance – including more communication around the economic opportunities of cloud computing.

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2271046/tories-under-pressure-implement#ixzz11f4ddxY8

Jyco Sealing Technologies will soon be expanding its production facility within the Offshore Group's Roca Fuerte Industrial Park located in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico. The new 36,480 square foot building that Jyco will occupy represents a doubling of the space occupied by their current operations. The company will expand their current employee base of 58 in proportion to its physical expansion.

According to Shawn Jyawook, Chief Operating Officer of Jyco, "Guaymas has become our company's showcase facility. Its technology, its superior and dedicated workforce and its professional management team enable Jyco Mexico to serve its customer base with best in class manufacturing technology. The Offshore Group's 'shelter' business model leaves us to fully concentrate on the core competencies that drive our market and our business."

Jyco is dedicated to the design, engineering and production of TPV sealing technologies. In 2004, the Michigan-based company established Jyco Asia in Japan. Jyco Europe was launched in Belgium in 2005. Today Jyco remains the world leader in TPV sealing, the only supplier to have earned a Corporate TS/ISO/16949/9000 certification for Design, Testing, and Manufacturing of TPV seals.

The Offshore Group is the largest provider of outsourced manufacturing support, or "shelter" services in Mexico. Currently 51 manufacturers are in production and are at The Offshore Group's three industrial parks in Sonora and the city of Saltillo, Coahuila. Through its Vangtel subsidiary, The Offshore Group also offers services to companies occupying the call center, IT development and BPO markets.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jyco-sealing-technologies-signs-agreement-with-the-offshore-group-to-expand-its-mexico-manufacturing-operations-104476519.html

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Transport operator FirstGroup has deployed a range of desktop services from IT services provider Computercenter to support business growth, minimise costs and enhance the experience of its employees.

FirstGroup has signed a five-year contract worth £14m that will see Computercenter provide a central service desk, desk-side support and new solutions for its 5,500 users at its 650 offices, railway stations and bus depots in the UK.

As part of the service, Computacenter will help FirstGroup develop its IT strategy and advise on new technologies that can improve efficiency and enhance the quality of the company’s IT services.

FirstGroup runs more than one in five of all local bus services across the UK and is also Britain’s largest rail operator, with four passenger franchises: First Great Western, First Capital Connect, First TransPennine Express and ScotRail.

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2270994/transport-firm-splashes-14m#ixzz11ZDS3bTz

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Lack of skills to handle transitions means Indian IT service providers will not stand a chance to win large deals in government, despite significant spending cuts likely to be announced later this month, a senior IT executive at a departmental user in Whitehall told Computer Weekly.

According to the source, who did not wish to be named, the biggest concern around working with Indian companies is the skills transfer between the incumbent supplier and the new partner.

"A lot of the work we do requires suppliers to work very closely with the customer and the problem is, [Indian suppliers] do not have the capability onshore to meet these demands," the source said.

"Also, with [local suppliers] you are able to do TUPE transfers, but such transfers do not exist in India. It would be one thing to offshore the software work around a new project, for example, but if you have 200 people working on an existing project, where do the skills go?"

Most major Indian suppliers are bidding for some very large public sector deals, but the source added that it would be difficult to favour them rather than a local or European player, where local resource is more widely available.

Developing a talent base in the UK is something that Indian firms such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro have attempted to do, with varying levels of success.

Wipro, for example, has said it has tried to recruit staff in Europe but it is struggling to fill the roles. Widespread opinion is that these companies have not managed to hire locally due to their overall model of paying lower wages than market average.

Another much-discussed disadvantage of Indian suppliers when it comes to taking over public sector deals is not having a delivery track record in the UK.

"It is all very well to say that they have delivered in India, but managing a transition between two countries is something quite different. I need to see that they have been able to deliver [in the UK]," said the IT executive.

However, many experts agree that offshoring cannot be ruled out as an option to reduce government spending. Currently, there are no Indian firms among the top government IT suppliers.

Source: http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/10/05/243177/Indian-suppliers-unlikely-to-win-public-sector-deals.htm

With so much competition for games, companies need to make sure they are providing the solid support services to keep their customers pleased. The simplest and least costly way to provide this is through a dedicated gaming support specialist.

1. 24/7 Support

Gaming customers use your products at all hours of the night, and they do not want to wait until Monday to get an answer from your company. It is imperative to have 24/7 support to ensure customers can get real time help when they need it.

2. Global Reach

The same games can be played all over the world and in many languages. Outsourcing your gaming customer support to a company that has multilingual capabilities will ensure that you can use one company for all of your gaming customers.

3. Forms of Contact

Depending on the scale and nature of your support needs, you should choose whether support should be provided through email, live chat or telephone. While each of these present their own benefits and draw backs – an outsourcing company can consult and provide all of these services so that you can reduce waiting times and increase customer satisfaction.

4. Valuable Information

Quality gaming customer support encourages feedback from the gaming community. If customers know that they have dependable support, they are more likely to email you with concerns, criticisms and compliments.

Outsourcing companies can provide vital information about the most pressing technical support issues so that future versions of your gaming products can be improved.

5. Reduce Costs

Outsourcing can cut your customer service costs significantly. There is no need to buy new equipment or train employees for new technologies. You do not have to hire or house new employees. There are significant cost benefits to outsourcing that will depend on the amount of work you have and which company you choose.

6. Support when you need it

The gaming community is growing very quickly with trends and technologies changing everyday. When you outsource your customer service support, you will have the support when you need it. You can outsource as much or as small work as you need it, when you need it.

7. Information

When your customers are in constant contact with representatives of your company – it provides a quick moment to inform customers about product offers, sales or other vital information.

8. Word of Mouth

Gaming customers have made gaming communities on and off line. Word of mouth has never been more vital within these communities. If you provide fantastic customer service and support, you can be sure that customer satisfaction is at its highest.

Source:http://www.cubgame.com/benefits-of-outsourcing-gaming-customer-support/

Atos Origin, an international IT services company, announced a new IT agreement today which is valid for five years and worth over £10 million with FirstGroup, the leading transport operator in the UK and North America.

The contract will see Atos Origin manage First’s data centre and messaging services and provide most of the core IT systems underpinning First’s UK, rail, bus and Group operations.

The deal follows another recent Atos Origin contract win from First for outsourced application support services.

Glenn Bladon, Group Head of IT Services, at First, said: “We selected Atos Origin because it has a deep understanding of our business, a flexible commercial approach and a compelling proposal that delivers value for money at low risk. In Atos Origin, we also have a partner which can work with FirstGroup to realise these benefits internationally.”

Tony Lacy, General Manager for Transport at Atos Origin said: “FirstGroup is a long-standing, vitally important and prestigious client for Atos Origin in the UK and we are delighted its IT team has extended their trust in us with the award of these new contracts. With our in-depth knowledge of the transport sector, we will work with First to add demonstrable value to the business and play an active role in delivering its business objectives.”

Atos Origin will take over management and development of applications for legacy and SAP systems to support back office functions such as HR, Finance and Procurement. Atos Origin will also establish and run two UK data centres for First as well as building a new email system to support 10,000 employees. The contract will be delivered from the UK with support from India for applications management and development.

Atos Origin also provides a number of services to First including rail operations systems, real-time management and deployment of vehicles and staff as well as ticketing solutions and customer information systems.

About Atos Origin

Atos Origin is a leading international information technology (IT) services company, providing hi-tech transactional services, consulting, systems integration and managed operations to deliver business outcomes globally. The company’s annual revenues are EUR 5.1 billion and it employs 49,000 people. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting.

Source: http://www.atosorigin.com/en-us/Newsroom/en-us/Press_Releases/2010/2010_10_06_01.htm